Laosy pun

So eventually a replacement bus arrived and we said a tearful goodbye to our favourite petrol station and made the ten hour trip to Hoi An. We finally made it there 24 hours after setting off, and checked into our hostel and headed down to the river for dinner.

We wandered further into the backpacker area in search of Saigon beer and met up with a few people who had been through the same torturous journey as we had for a drink and post-traumatic stress counselling session. It swiftly became apparent why we hadn't bonded on the way as we were barraged with stories by one of the most sinfully irritating girls I have ever met, throwing out conversational gems as "you should always expect to get mugged at gunpoint if you go to South America" and explaining why applying for graduate jobs was so tough. I should clarify, she was in second year at university, if she was worried about that I'm not sure what level of panic I should be at given that in a couple of weeks I'm going to have to explain why being two years out of university with no real relevant experience is actually a positive for hiring me. But hey, I guess I could always go to Brazil and become a highway man. 

All the reviews online for our hostel had praised its buffet breakfast so I was pretty excited to check it out the next day. Having honed my breakfast buffet skills in Delaware I hit it with full efficiency and ensuring value for money (don't fill up on bread, aim at the most expensive ingredients). After breakfast there was a worrying feeling in the pit of my stomach, and not due to the strange combination of noodles and cereal mixing in there.  It was due to the fact that I was about to be forced to face my arch nemesis, the bicycle, vehicle of choice for Hoi An. I tried to remember the last time I had ridden a bike and estimated it was approximately nine or ten years ago, and it involved me crashing in some woods. However, with encouragement and coaching usually reserved for 6 year olds, we rented our $1 a day bikes and set off, without the aid of any stabilisers I should add. About 50 metres down the road and around a corner we hit our first snag, and amazingly it wasn't me wrapping myself round the nearest tree. Em's bike had decided to mount a jailbreak and snap its chain. Luckily for us there was a very friendly local man sat nearby who came over to help out. He discovered we were missing a clip for the chain and set about dismantling a nearby bike for the part we needed. We like to think it was his own bike, but in hindsight I think this is wishful thinking. In all likelihood we were actually involved in the friendliest bike-jacking or chopshop transaction ever. We carried on, bolstered by the added courage given by our newly purchased beer vests and the day was plain riding from then on. We rode around the town all day, stopping for the occasional souvenir, or at one point to take photos of the historical village that you were supposed to pay entry to, but we accidentally cycled straight past the pay station, no one was going to catch my newly channeled Bradley Wiggins persona. 

That evening we checked out a couple of the bars around before heading to local club. Anyone who has seen my lack of self control at an all you can eat buffet should be able to see where this story will end. The particular bar we chose had an 'all you can' offer, but instead of dodgy pizza or salad it offered a choice of rum, vodka or gin with mixer all night. It is definitely the wording that screws me over. It isn't 'all you want to', it's 'all you CAN'. It implies a challenge. So predictably, I think I had a good time, but the buffet breakfast the next day was certainly required a lot more than the previous. 

After another day in Hoi An we headed to Hue, in order to get the subsequent bus into Laos. Annoyingly we weren't able to leave the same day, so we spent half a day wandering around an old citadel. We also said our goodbyes to John who was going to remain in Vietnam for a bit longer. 

The next morning we were picked up by the shuttle bus and met three American girls who were on the same bus to Laos as us. We arrived at the main bus and were ushered to our seats. I had clearly won seat lottery as I had managed to get a sleeper bunk with enough leg room (after I cleared out the thirty or so blankets from the footwell, and pillows starring everyone's favourite children's character Winnie the Hoop). If I was the winner of this, Em was quite clearly the loser, being forced to climb over boxes to get to her seat/hole and needed to extract a sizeable log from the seat before getting in. The rest of the bus was made up of locals, with us and the Americans as the only westerners on board. The coach was also heavily laden with boxes of goods to be dropped in random villages along the way. These were stacked in every available space, covering the entire floor space of the bus and were piled up by the hundreds behind twiggy and me, leaving us as the last line of defence for when they began falling in the middle of the night. 

We spent the majority of the journey being thoroughly confused about what was going on in the journey, particularly when we reached some form of checkpoint and one of the guys working on the bus made us hide, closing our curtains and even sitting on one of the bunks to conceal us. At one point we also stopped for food, and everyone except us sat down to tuck into food that was brought to them, whereas we had to order our own, although a local guy did give us some whiskey so that made the next part of the trip a little more enjoyable. 

The journey ended as surprisingly as it had been throughout when we were awoken at 4am having arrived at our destination, five hours earlier than we had been told. We then got a tuk tuk to the hostel the American girls were staying at, and hung around there until any breakfast places were open. We spent a few hours exploring 'Buddha Park', where there are lots of different statues, so of course we spent a while being slightly disrespectful, copying various Buddha poses etc. We then took the short trip over to Vang Vieng and prepared ourselves fully for tubing by going out and getting drunk. 

The next morning we got organised for tubing by going and buying a waterproof camera and a sealable bag for our money. For anyone who isn't aware of tubing, you basically go on a pub crawl down a river in a rubber ring. However, recently it has been toned down a lot and there are no longer rope swings or slides, which was a shame, but probably for the best. We rented our tubes and got a tuk tuk up to the start point and were told to get in. We were slightly concerned as the river was pretty fast flowing but in we plunged. The first bar was a mere 30 or so metres down, but we still almost managed to lose Em, with the person throwing out ropes to get us missing on the first attempt. We spent a while in the first pub, playing volleyball and debating the differences between a jungle and a rainforest, before heading to the second bar, which we had been promised was the best one. We made it safely across to the other side of the river and into the bar. This one featured beer pong, basketball and many mud based activities. We spent a good few hours there before going across to the third and final bar for more of the same. On the way we almost managed to lose all our money, as the string holding it around Em broke and it began to float away. Luckily she managed to grab it before it disappeared, but lost her sunglasses in the process, our main casualty of the day. The journey home was when we saw the real dangers of tubing for the first time. After assuming that the sign saying 'stop tubing' was more of a protest than an instruction, we missed the end point, but were luckily pulled to safety by some local children, rather than ending up in the sea. We then attempted to shower the layer of mud off and met some of our new tubing friends for dinner, the highlight of which was undoubtedly when twiggy ordered some form of spicy rice, but was instead presented with a coriander soup, it must be the northern accent. The remainder of the night is quite a blur but tubing was definitely a success, which was good news as we had heard rumours of its demise. 

The following day we spent most of the morning struggling through breakfast in one of the many bars along the main road that show friends on tv all  long. You can actually decide where to eat based on which series you would like. After that we took a trip to some caves and a lagoon, and spent a hungover afternoon jumping out of a tree into water. 

I'll leave the blog there for now, sorry it is a bit of an extended one, I realised I'm about 2 weeks behind schedule and on my last day out here, so the rest will have to be written with nostalgia from home. 

See ya!

I love the smell of petrol in the morning

Asian diary part two...

After our Vietcong tunnel trip we booked onto a two day trip down to the Mekong delta. It started with the usual South East Asian efficiency when too many people were booked onto the coach. This left a group of five welsh guys with nowhere to sit. Fortunately the call went out and soon a man returned with some children's plastic stools for them. Not a comfortable three hour journey for them I can't imagine. 

We cruised along the delta on a small boat, led by our part tour guide, part terrible stand up comedian An. We visited a coconut candy factory and a honey tea shop where I believe the idea was people would purchase some of the wares. We did not, but that didn't stop us sampling our fair share of them. We also went to a cafe where we sat awkwardly as Vietnamese women sang traditional songs to us, and also a bizarre rendition of if you're happy and you know it and auld lang syne. 

The four of us and a German guy were the only five to have opted for the home stay accommodation option, and after this was established, we were unceremoniously dumped on the side of the state highway. We were forced to then cross it on foot to a group of awaiting mopeds. However, there weren't enough for all of us to go at once, so John, the German (Jan), and I hopped on the back of them, and sped off, leaving Emily and Alex in the safe hands of an eleven and thirteen year old, next to one of the busiest roads in Vietnam. My driver had clearly decided that it was a race to the home stay and promptly overtook the other drivers, several cows and terrified pedestrians. I arrived a good ten minutes before the others and waited patiently for them to slowly arrive. 

Em and Alex turned up with a good story. After waiting about three minutes, the kids decided they could guide people home and set off with instructions to follow. After detouring to play hide and seek in some half-built houses, which sounded a lot like Alex just chasing children about, they finally joined us for dinner. 

The youngest child, Can, became our guide, translator and entertainment for the evening, controlling card games, magic tricks and generally being very amusing. We had an early start the next day and rejoined the rest of our tour group to visit a floating market. However, this turned out not to be the quaint affair we were expecting, with small boats taking you to shops selling hand-made souvenirs etc. Instead we were taken to a wholesale fruit and veg market, not quite what we had been led to believe. 

The end of the trip was as haphazard as the beginning, after sampling local delicacies for lunch (rat), we were split up on our coaches home after much shouting and one bus driver just giving up and leaving. We arrived back in Ho Chi Minh and prepared for what was sure to be a horrible night bus experience to dalat. How wrong we were. The bus was on time, modern and comfortable. We each had a bunk bed seat and, despite the wail of the greatest hits of boney M in the background, we all managed to get some sleep, arriving in the mountains of Dalat, refreshed and ready to explore. 

Dalat is a cool little place with plenty of waterfalls to explore nearby. Unfortunately, the transport method of choice is a moped. For those not aware of my checkered past with the common bicycle, it is not what could be described as a match made in heaven. Having decided that it wasn't for me, John kindly agreed to let me be his passenger, whilst twigs and Em braved it alone. This went about as well as expected to begin with, with twiggy managing to fall off in the first five minutes and us all getting separated at the first roundabout. However, from then on it was plain sailing, with everyone taking to mopeds like a duck to pancakes, I had even managed to get the hang of 'leaning', to prevent my added weight from toppling the bike over on every corner. We stopped at the biggest waterfall nearby and had a look around. There was a disappointing toboggan ride there and an unnecessary cable car, but the waterfall was reasonably pretty. After watching the other three novices take to riding the bike, as easily as, well, riding a bike, I thought the car park of the waterfall would be the ideal place to try my hand at it. I gave it a good go, making it almost five meters before stalling it, failing to turn, and putting my feet on the floor and giving up. The hell's angels shouldn't expect my application any time soon. In the car park of the next waterfall we met a group of fellow travellers and we decided to form our own motorcycle gang and head to a further out site. After only a few stops to check the map we made it, and it was definitely worth it. We climbed all the way up through the waterfall to stand under its main torrent which was incredible. The journey back was also eventful, we ended up driving along a toll highway, where mopeds are not allowed. This led to some sketchy moment whenever a car drove past, none of us wanting to end up in a Vietnamese prison. Luckily the fact that I was a passenger rather than a driver enabled me to focus on scenery rather than the road, and I managed to spot a small side road through a village that we darted down and avoided the police blockade by about 500m. 

We have decided that unfortunately Dalat is not really a dog-friendly environment. Having witnessed one get run over on one day, the following day we saw one for sale on the side of the road. This dog was evidentially not just for Christmas, it was clearly for Sunday dinner, being as it was cut up into small sections. 

Our next bus to nha trang was also decent enough and we made it there in the early evening and headed out. After a few signature buckets and cocktails its kind of hard to say what happened the rest of the evening. The only things I can be sure of is that twigs and myself managed to get lost on the one street route home, accosted by prostitutes trying to pickpocket us, and offered a wide variety of the finest drug offerings nha trang could muster. The next day was predictably lethargic, lazing on the beach all day. And in true British fashion managed to crisp up at the first sign of sun. 

That evening we had a night bus to Hoi  An. We had nothing to fear, we were experienced night-busserers (new word) by now, what could possibly go wrong. Well, it turns out, everything. Whilst the back rows of most school buses are reserved for the cool kids, the back row of a sleeper bus is clearly reserved for anorexics who don't feel heat. But alas, we were the lucky winners of seat roulette, and that's where we ended up. Crammed in alongside each other, the four of us (plus a random Vietnamese man) settled in to try and sleep through the thunderstorm outside, whilst not succumbing to heat exhaustion. At the top of one of the large hills outside of nha trang we hit some issues, namely the bus being unable to make it any further, and the clutch smelling very badly. However, it seemed to make it through okay, and we made it down the mountainside slowly but surely, and came to a stop in a petrol station in the middle of nowhere. No problem, we thought, a routine toilet stop and we all piled off the bus. However, soon it became clear all was not well. It turns out at the top of the hill the clutch had completely given in, and we had actually just coasted downhill for almost an hour. A mechanic was called, no one came. A replacement bus was ordered, to no avail. The highlight of this wait was when the group above us awoke two hours into our delay after a valium induced sleep, and were hilariously disorientated, serves them right for spilling coke on me four times that night. All in all we spent a total of twelve hours in this petrol station, so long in fact we actually witnessed it change ownership and put up new signs and branding. By the end we had all developed a soft spot for. With its angry mosquitos, complete lack of any food or drinks and outside toilets. Sure it was a dilapidated old craphole, but it was ours. Ask anyone who has travelled Asia, you haven't seen anything until you see the sunrise over a petrol pump. That my friends, is real Vietnam. 

A Twigiot abroad

Hello everyone,

Sorry it has taken so long for me to write the first Asian blog. One of the big differences of travelling in a group is you have less spare time, there is always something to do!

My Asian adventure began with my trip to the exotic isles of Manchester to meet up with Alex. I was up there a few days in advance and ended up going to his cousins surprise birthday party. I think that this has given me an idea for future surprise parties, there should always be someone there that no one has a clue who they are, and ideally they should be stood front and centre for the big surprise shout. What could be more of a surprise than that?

We met emily in Manchester airport and had the customary Brits on tour pre-flight beers. We headed to the plane feeling more than a little merry and boarded. I'd managed to get an exit row seat away from Alex and Emily in order to survive the long flight without my knees in my chin. However, the others kindly negotiated with a man next to them to swap with me, at least their hearts were in the right place, unlike my knees which were lodged firmly into the reclined seat in front. 

After some severe confusion at Bangkok airport we got a train and taxi to our hotel and met John who had flown in from Hong Kong and went out to see the sights of Kao San road. The rest of the evening was comprised of drinking cheap beers and trying the local delicacies, fried scorpion being the most unusual (although the distinct lack of it in restaurants does suggest it is little more than a tourist trap). 

The following day we wandered around Bangkok and found a park to walk around, added a monitor lizard to the list of exotic animals I've seen on my trip. That evening, we hit Kao San Road again and sampled a few of the signature buckets. We also visited the famous ping pong shows of Bangkok, and it was unsurprisingly horrific and traumatic!

The following day twiggy did his best to convince us that he was dying, gaining sympathy from Em, but nothing but abuse from me and John.  Our stay in Bangkok ended early the next day as we braved the horror stories of Thai trains and took a 6 hour trip to the Cambodian border. It was surprisingly manageable, even when a Thai lady fell asleep on my shoulder. The whole trip cost one pound as well, so can't really complain there! By far the highlight of the trip though was when we got dropped off by our bus 5km from town and told it couldn't go further and we needed to get on one of the waiting tuk-tuks. However, the majority of the passengers were very unhappy with this so led a revolt and the entire bus refused and began to walk into town. It was clear that this was a shock to the drivers who quickly mounted up and chased us down the road offering us cheaper rides and promising of we carried on walking we would die. But of course, we remained loyal to our fellow travellers and continued walking, for about 30 seconds before taking up the offer. There is no loyalty amongst travellers. 

In Cambodia we visited many temples, including Angkor Wat for sunrise. However, due to cloud cover we didn't get to experience the sun actually rise which was a shame. After two days of templing (new word invented) we had begun to suffer from temple fatigue and so now are pretty reluctant to see any more. I managed to make it until the very last temple before I hit my head pretty badly, so it could have been a lot worse. We also sampled a traditional Khmer massage, which if I'm honest involved a bit too much of them hitting me for my liking. Nothing says relax like being slapped by a Cambodian lady. 

One of the best experiences in siem reap was after a night out in the town, waking up early to hear twiggy telling us a drawn out story about how he had woken up in a different hostel surrounded by chickens. Luckily John was on hand to explain that this had categorically not happened, as he had walked home with him!

We also visited Phnom Penh in Cambodia and saw the killing fields and prisons of pol pot, not a lot of scope for comedy there really but it was very interesting. 

We left Cambodia for Vietnam, arriving in Ho Chi Minh. From there we went on a tour of the cu chi tunnels of the Vietcong which was great. We had a tour from an ex-soldier and got to go in the original tunnels used there. He sent me down the smallest tunnel first, presumably to show the rest of the group that if I could fit, everyone else could as well. I was feeling okay about heading down on my own until he passed me the worlds most pathetic torch and said I couldn't go in without it. He also warned me not to go too far or else I would be lost forever, so it was slightly more nervy than anticipated. We also went into some tunnels they have made slightly wider for tourists to use, emphasis on 'slightly'. We still had to crawl on hands and knees for the majority of it. We also got to fire an ak47 in a shooting range which was pretty cool. 

I think I'll leave the blog there as otherwise I think I will lose the majority of my loyal readers to boredom. Ill try and write the next one soon, as a little trailer it will contain stories such as, how I rode a moped for 5 meters, climbed a waterfall and spent 12 hours in a Vietnamese petrol station. Tune in next time!

LA, Vegas, Home

Dear friends, alas I am still a normal person like you all, as I was not discovered in Hollywood as was my plan. However, I did discover that Hollywood is rubbish. To be honest, I wasn't very impressed with LA as a whole, it was hindered a bit coming after San Francisco and San Diego which were both pretty cool. First impressions are everything, and my first impression of LA was sitting waiting for a bus in deepest Compton. And judging by my in-depth knowledge of gangster rap, it wasn't a place I really wanted to be. However, my hostel was quite cool, it was pretty much on the beach and met a few cool people in there.

Hollywood though is definitely photoshopped on TV though, only showing the nice bits, and conveniently missing all the rubbish and crackheads. The walk of fame is pretty bizarre as well, I think they could probably get away with removing 95% of the people on it and I still wouldn't know all of them. There are some interesting ones as well, a few Disney characters on there, and my personal favourite, Godzilla, I'm assuming they weren't invited to the unveiling.  I went to the Chinese Theatre place where there are all the hand prints in concrete and I discovered to my surprise I have the same size hands as Arnold Schwarzenegger, I like to think this means I am halfway there to being Mr Universe.

From LA I got my final Megabus to Las Vegas. I arrived during the evening and it is incredible from how far away you can see the glow of Vegas across the desert. I arrived to the hotel before Paul and Lauren so checked us in. Turns out the casinos all charge a 'resort fee', which would have been about $90. However, after the receptionist swiped my card three times and asked if I had previously had any problems swiping my card (to which I replied, "only when there is no money on it"), she decided it wasn't worth the effort and waived the fees!

Vegas is an insane place. It is like adult Disneyland, neon lights and drinks everywhere. We spent the majority of our time chasing cocktail waitresses around trying to look like we were gambling more than we were to get free drinks. Paul seemed to have the most luck on the one cent slot machines, clocking up a couple of big wins on a Grizzly Bear themed machine.

My final day in the states was spent at the Grand Canyon. We were pretty worried as it was supposed to be almost world record breaking heat in the area. However, we managed to pick the one rainy day for the month to go. Spent a large amount of time taking photos posing precariously over the edge, planking, sitting over the edge etc.

My flight home was pretty horrible, I very quickly lost the battle for the arm rest to the massive Czech man next to me, and whilst I was stood up, some bastard broke my headphones. Watched my monthly quota of films and tried to sleep, although it wasn't helped by the clumsiest airline staff in the world, who bumped into me everytime they went down the isles.

I've been back in England this week, exclusively watching cricket and playing football manager whilst everyone suns themselves outside. I am about to head off to Asia with Twiggy, Em and John until the end of August, if anyone would like some genuine Calvon Klaine or Royo Bomm gear let me know. Wish me luck!!

Rednecks, hand grenades and California

Hello everyone,

I'm trying to summon the effort to blog, however, it is absolutely boiling in California right now and I am seriously concerned for my health over the next week. I'm off to Vegas on Wednesday where it is due to be 48 degrees! Thank god for air conditioned casinos.

The last post I did was from New Orleans and I was just about to go to Bourbon Street for the evening. It really is incredible how your opinion of the road changes the more drinks you have. Completely sober, it is a bizarre place and not overly enjoyable; after one or two you begin to see the appeal; and after a few more (or one of the cocktails on offer) it becomes the greatest place on earth. Someone should definitely do an in-depth study as to why that is. I am willing to volunteer as guinea pig, I will need the backing of a wealthy investor and a spare liver on standby. I was down on Bourbon Street that night with two British girls called Laura who were on an almost identical travel route as me for a couple of weeks so we teamed up to take on the best of the deep South. We discovered the signature cocktail of New Orleans, the hand grenade, which is truly delicious, and tastes so much of melon it is almost certainly good for you.We spent the evening in the home of the hand-grenade and singing 'Wagon Wheel' at every opportunity.

The following day, feeling interesting to say the least I walked to the stadium of the New Orleans Saints, the originally named "Super Dome". However, to get there I did have to walk through a fairly suspicious area, perhaps best summed up by a poster on lampposts with a sad looking child on them saying "Ceasefire - please stop the shooting" (Sorry mum!). Needless to say my pace quickened somewhat from then on, and my neon green sunglasses and camera went deep into my pocket. However, evidently I survived and made it to the megabus bright and early the next day for a mammoth road trip with the Lauras to Austin Texas.

Austin is not what I expected from Texas at all. Far from the guns and beer culture I was expecting it is a cultural, music-orientated and 'foody' town. The nearest to a redneck I have found is me, sporting a fairly spectacular t-shirt tan. The hostel we were booked into was full of bizarre characters, a charming man named David who was there to pursue a music career and insisted on serenading us that evening. I am going to go out on a limb and suggest he probably won't be gracing the charts anytime soon, but it did give me the opportunity to bust out my shoddy covers of Passenger songs. We ate very well in Austin, after arriving too late to get to a man vs food location with the greatest name so far (Juan in a Million), apparently he only needs to open til 3pm as he is too rich/lazy. We ended up eating some great hot dogs, and a BBQ place the following day might be the best food I've had so far on the trip.

The final day in Texas was spent at a natural (read full of algae) pool, with a diving board, followed by an evening of pub games. I had to leave the Lauras there and head to San Francisco alone and bleary-eyed at 4.30am, although I managed to catch up with sleep on the plane. I nodded off on the runway in Austin and didn't wake until they announced we were about to land! My hostel in San Fran was amazing, huge communal ballroom and free breakfast and food for most of the week.

I failed to heed Twiggy's warning and was scared by Bushman, a homeless guy who hides behind bushes and jumps out at you, to the hilarity of passers-by. Did all the touristy things, walked across the Golden Gate Bridge and managed to make it onto Alcatraz, and more importantly, off it.

I've now spent a couple of days in San Diego, lazing about as it is so warm. I've been looked after by a group who I was put in contact with by a guy called Kevin I met in Nashville. Today I ticked off the only thing that was on my list of things to do in San Diego, the zoo. It definitely is quite a strange experience going to the zoo on your own, but it meant I chose exactly what I wanted to see and what I could ignore (Honey Badgers, yes, random garden birds, no). It is an amazing zoo, with Pandas, Polar Bears and even the extremely rare common magpie. Tomorrow I'm off to LA for a few days before meeting up with Paul again in Vegas to end the USA part of the trip. Will no doubt blog the end of my trip from back in the UK, and try and filter how many photos I put online! That is of course ignoring the huge possibility that I am discovered in Hollywood and flown off to star in movies and such.

Wish me luck for Vegas. Peace!

Southern adventures

If anyone asks you to Atlanta, Georgia, you should say no... and then you should punch them in the face. No seriously, that place is the worst place on earth. But I'm getting ahead of myself, the last time I wrote I was going 'gator hunting in the Everglades, and as you can see I survived it. Saw a couple of small alligators in the wild, then held a 3 foot one in captivity which was pretty cool, not exactly Steve Irwin style, but still felt like it could have done some serious damage.

Spent the last few days in Miami chilling by the pool, getting sunburnt and occasionally trekking around the South Beach or Downtown area. There was quite a predatory gay Colombian guy that seemed to take quite a shine to me in the hostel, his opening question was, "do you have a girlfriend?", followed up by "you no like?". It did lead to one unfortunate moment, when I slipt on the wet floor and literally fell into his arms. Not one of my manliest moments I'll admit.

From Miami I flew to spend a day in Atlanta as it was cheaper to do that than go straight to Nashville. All the reviews for my motel were pretty derogatory, warning of the homeless shelter next door, but I thought after a year with the Big Issue I would be alright with that. I was wrong. About three to four hundred people crowded around all day and night. That coupled with the rain didn't do much for my perception of Atlanta, but I think you could be there in glorious sunshine and it wouldn't hide the fact that the place is an absolute dump. How on earth it got the Olympics I will never know.

From there I got the coach to Nashville which is now my favourite place in the US. There's a street called Broadway with bars all the way down with live music constantly. I think I've had my fill of country music for life, but it was a really cool place. Stayed at a very music-based hostel as well and met a lot of fun people. Very bizarrely met up with my friend Jake who I haven't seen in about 6 months and didn't know he was in the country! After Nashville I got another Greyhound to Memphis to meet up with Paul and sleep on his sofa. As I'm not the biggest Elvis fan there wasn't a huge amount to do in the area, but I went to the Gibson guitar factory which was interesting. That evening we went to a house party and took on some Americans at beer pong, which led to Paul being forced to sit under the table for the duration of the next game for not making any shots! The following day was Saturday so Paul was free for an American adventure. We went to play 'disc-golf', which is essentially throwing frizbees on a golf course. I'm not going to say I was a natural, but I guess living by the beach for so long has honed my skills somewhat. That evening we went to a drive-in cinema which was an experience, I'm not entirely sure it added anything to watching films as it was hotter and harder to see the screen, but it seemed like the sort of thing to do whilst over here.

After Memphis I took an 11 hour coach down to New Orleans where I am currently sat inside because it is too warm to leave the hostel. There is a place called Bourbon Street where I went last night which is essentially a row of bars with very strong cocktails and a distinct smell of vomit. From here I will be off to Austin Texas, followed by a trip to California and finally Vegas for the 4th July. I'm off to find some shade and food before hitting Bourbon Street again tonight. For anyone interested I think I'm now up to 8 Man vs Food locations on the trip.

Peace out!

Flying solo!

Hello all, and greetings from your favorite tomato.

I may or may not be sporting a healthy bright red glow currently, based on me forgetting that despite it being cloudy, you can still sunburn. Lesson learnt.

Chris, Rhys and John have all left so I'm back to flying solo for a while, so the blog posts might become slightly more frequent as I don't know anyone here yet! Chris, Rhys and I headed down to Ocean City, Maryland in search of drunken college folk after Philadelphia. We developed a new tactic of telling Americans that the Brits can out-drink them, which more often than not leads to them buying you a drink to try and prove otherwise.

So after the guys left I spent an interesting few days in Richmond, Virginia, which didn't start off too well, with the taxi driver attempting to charge me $60 for a ten minute ride. Fortunately I was in the very strong bargaining position of not having $60, so I managed to get him to back down to a more reasonable $30. My room in the hotel was a smoking room (who knew they still existed?) which meant that it smelt pretty strongly, which in turn led to my clothes smelling like those of a 40-a-day man.

My hotel was also fairly remote, very convenient if you have a car, but completely impractical if you don't. I fitted into the latter category, and with the absence of a bus, the walk into town was a casual hour and forty five minute trek. Having previously discovered that Americans don't walk anywhere, I now discovered that this often meant that pavements didn't either. This led to a few sketchy moments, attempting to cross ten lane wide roads with a small central reservation for a break, it was very reminiscent of the arcade game frogger at times. Fortunately I managed not get squashed or arrested and made it to and from Richmond successfully both days. I did my best to do the cultural sites, the Fine Art Museum for example where I made sure to make the appropriate 'hmmm' noises if anyone caught me staring blankly at a piece of art for too long, not exactly knowing what to make of it. But in general it was a very nice place to spend a few days.

So now I am in a hostel in Miami called 'Posh South Beach Hostel', where they have really done their best to be upmarket and snazzy. It kind of works, but looks quite a lot like what might happen if you crammed 30 beds into the changing room of a nice gym. However, there is a pool and the beds are comfortable, so I can't complain. I have now perfected my ability to introduce myself to someone, hear their name, and then completely forget it within seconds. I tend to go with 'mate' in situations afterwards if I see them again.

I spent my first full day in Miami hiking up to the top of South Beach to a place called Bay Harbor, exclusively because it is mentioned in the tv show Dexter which I love. However, once again, I may have overestimated the walking distance, and it took me the best part of three hours to trek there. Upon getting there, it also became clear that despite being based there, the tv show was evidently not filmed there, so I had pretty much entirely wasted the day. Oh well, at least I got a healthy sunburn for my troubles.

I've booked myself onto a tour of the Everglades tomorrow to go in search of 'gators etc so if I don't update again, look for me in the swamps. Wish me luck!

Sam/Tomato face

Three brits in search of real America

Hello all,

It's my last day in Philadelphia today so I thought I would write a quick update on how things have been going so far in America. It's been pretty much non-stop since I arrived, and I've seen a large number of states in not very much time at all!

Had a small crisis in Melbourne airport with a big delay, but luckily they held my connection to New York long enough for me to make it onto the plane. As my phone doesn't seem to operate abroad I had to use Starbucks wifi (by sitting outside on the floor) to meet up with Rhys, Chris and our old lacrosse coach Alex in a pub which served a ridiculous array of beers.

We spent the next day doing touristy things, Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero etc, although there are limited photos of this as Rhys decided not to bother bringing his camera along. We went to watch the Yankees play baseball in their new stadium. The ground is incredible, unfortunately, the evening was ruined by the sport being played in it. Sorry America, baseball is dull, and this comes from a man who watches cricket.

We decided to go in search of "real 'merica" and our search led us to Wilmington, Delaware. Not somewhere you find in the top 50 places to visit, or probably not top 500. But Rhys had decided we needed a break from driving the 3 hour drive to Baltimore, and the hotel was pretty nice.

Then began the main reason for us being in the East coast at this time, watching the end of the college lacrosse season. We watched the quarter finals in Maryland, surrounded by pretty much only the friends and family of the teams, and were very disappointed to find out they don't serve beers at the tournament (more on that theme later).

We then spent a couple of days in Baltimore, staying with my friend Kelly and two horse-sized dogs. We went for a night out with her work friends and showed the Americans how to booze. Amazingly they had never thought to set their drinks on fire before having them.

Went to the Naval Academy for their graduation ceremony, which involved a group of 200 freshers having to climb a greased up monument, which was one of the most surreal moments of my life. Apparently in can take up to three hours to complete, we did not stay til the end.

Had a mini sight-seeing tour of DC whilst we were in the area, staying at a very bizarre hostel run by the Somalian version of Basil Fawlty, who seemed to be possibly the least capable man to run a hostel. Although he did upgrade us for no reason, so we can't complain.

Made it to Philadelphia no problem and found our flat which is being lent to us by someone Chris knows, and the family also took us out for dinner on the first night. Met up with the Reading LDO Colin and got considerably better at beer pong, aided by the use of red cups.

Went to the Philadelphia Eagles stadium to watch the lacrosse for the last 3 days. Although, after the lack of beers we had discovered, decided on the second day just to get very drunk beforehand. This led to Chris and myself leading chants for a team who we hadn't heard of and making it onto the big screen, John watching the game in another section to us; and Rhys not being allowed into the stadium and spending an hour lost in a carpark.

However, we all managed to remember the final match, with Duke beating Syracuse and then had an American BBQ at Colin's house. We are just about to get in the car and head to Ocean City Maryland which should be good fun. All the college people have just graduated and so we have to go uphold the reputation of Brits abroad. Wish me luck!

Those of you who I said I would write postcards to, I have done. But I haven't got round to sending them. So many of you will get Australian postcards sent from America.

Peace out!
Sam

Australia part 2

Hi everyone!

I have been travelling around Oz for a couple of weeks and I refuse to pay for wifi in hostels so apologies for the lack of blogging, I'm sure you were all eagerly anticipating it.

Been packing in the activities in the time I've been here. Went on a big road trip down to Adelaide, then flew acrosse to Sydney which was wicked. I have taken about a million photos of the Opera House and Bridge so expect them to jam up a Facebook page near you soon.

After hitting up those two cities I left Maddy and Dad and headed off on my own up to Byron Bay. Rocked up to my hostel and found I had zero room mates! Not exactly what I expected, in fact, I had a completely free room up until the time I had to wake up to catch my greyhound bus 3 days later, when I found it had been infested with large men in the night. I had to pack up my stuff with only the aide of an iphone screen light which wasn't easy.

Had my first experience of surfing in Byron, took a 4 hour lesson with one of the many schools there. The instructor said I was a natural. Well, he didn't exactly say those exact words, but I could tell in his eyes that he wanted to. On my second day there I went for a big walk round the coastline and completed my animal checklist. Managed to spot dolphins, a ray, turtles and a shark, which led to slightly nervous swimming for the next few hours.

Headed further up the coast to Fraser Island for a tour which was amazing. Drove a 4x4 through the rainforest and on the beach and drank a large quantity of cheap wine. Managed to complete the double of failing the breathalyser test both mornings which meant I couldn't drive until after lunch.

Headed back to Melbourne and had my second AFL experience, me and Andrew went to see two undefeated teams play each other and got quite merry and vocal in support of Geelong. The day after the game, feeling slightly under the weather we headed off to play some lacrosse. A local team had agreed to let us play, and I like to think we were the difference-makers, ending up winning 19-5. Managed to get my standard minute penalty for unnecessary roughness, so an all round successful day.

Flying to New York on Wednesday morning to meet up with Chris and Rhys and to watch the NCAA lacrosse finals, before heading across the country for 6 weeks. Will try and post more and some pictures when I get the chance. If anyone wants a postcard send me your address!

Sam

G'day mates!

G'day mates, how ya going? You see, I have already become fluent in the language over here, all those fosters adverts acted as great preparation for my travels.

The journey over here was surprisingly bearable, due to being one of the only people on the plane. It meant I had a good 5 or 6 seats to myself so I spent the majority of the journey asleep, waking up only for the interesting meal decisions Qantas have made (seriously who has a burrito for breakfast?) I was greeted in Melbourne by a bleary-eyed sister as I arrived about 5am and after a few coffees we went exploring in the city, which is pretty cool.

Next day I woke up hoping to never see a plane again in my life, and immediately went to the airport to get on one. Me and Dad flew to Alice Springs for a night before our Uluru trip. Alice Springs is potentially the strangest place in the world, lots of drunks hanging around, and very little to do. Luckily we weren't there for long as the next day we took a 6 hour coach to Ayers Rock with a tour comprising of mainly Japanese tourists and people who looked like they may keel over any second. Suffice to say the walks around were not strenuous, which was a shame as deep vein thrombosis was a serious danger at this point. But the guides knew a lot of interesting stuff, and Ayers Rock is pretty cool, as massive red rocks go, it is certainly up there.

Yesterday we checked out Hanging Rock, and after managing to be asleep anytime a kangaroo went past the bus to Uluru stumbled across about 40 of them chilling in a field. Managed to get an interesting photo of me frolicking with them, although they spook pretty easily. Also found a kookabarra in a tree, so now it is just a koala to go on my list of Australian animals to see before I leave.

Today I went to the MCG and watched an Aussie rules game, which apparently was a bottom of the table clash. However, seeing as the only game I had seen previously was Southampton vs Bournemouth, it all looked pretty good quality to me. The gist of it seemed to be large men kicking a ball and then fighting, which is what I look for in a sport really, so I am now converted.

I have a few more days in Melbourne before heading along the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide, followed by Sydney. Will blog some more when I can, hopefully it will get easier, and funnier.

Sam

It begins

After a week in Dublin and another to recover from the hangover that ensued it is almost time for me to jet off on my travels.

First I'm heading off to Australia for a month to meet up with the GAG World Tour (http://gagworldtour.blogspot.co.uk/) and scrounge off my dear sister (http://goonberrystravels.blogspot.com.au/).

Then I'm jetting across to the states to watch some lacrosse and try to make it across the country alive before meeting up with Twiggy and Em Gould for an Asian adventure.

I'll try and blog as often as I can and update you on my progress. It's sure to be a journey of self-discovery as I attempt to find myself (I hope he's cool).

See you on the other side of the world!
Sam